Microbial Biosensor for Diagnosing Leishmaniasis

Darren Zhu of Synbiosys, LLC in the U.S. aims to produce a low-cost diagnostic platform that can rapidly diagnose leishmaniasis in field conditions. He will engineer a bacterium with cell surface receptors that are activated and amplified by the presence of Leishmania proteases to produce a colorimetric readout. This biologic system could be extended to the rapid diagnosis of other infectious diseases.